Chapter 65: Pressuring the Akademiya

Ye spent his popularity points to start creating fan-made videos. The first one was naturally Hu Tao's solo song "Ao", which would further boost her popularity. Next was a collaborative video between himself and Hu Tao, designed to ride the wave of her popularity. No, no—it should be mutual promotion, since Ye's popularity wasn't low either. After finishing the videos, Ye didn't release them immediately. He planned to wait until Hu Tao's hype had built up halfway for the best effect. Once that was done, it was time for the next task. Well, there were quite a few things to handle next, so hiding out here for some peace and quiet wasn't a bad idea. Ye lay down on the bed, closed his eyes, and fully immersed his consciousness into Fanseti. Fanseti was currently in Sumeru City. As Fontaine's diplomatic envoy to Sumeru, after finishing her business in Liyue, she had come to Sumeru to extract the last bit of value from the region. In about two years, the Dendro Archon, Lesser Lord Kusanali, would break free and take control. These two years were the final opportunity to squeeze Sumeru dry. Originally, Ye had planned to handle this himself, but with an alt account, he let Fanseti take over. This was also preparation for Fanseti's future banner. However, the details still needed some fine-tuning. In her normal state, Fanseti was a gentle and polite girl, which wasn't quite suitable for dealing with Sumeru. To handle the scholars of the Akademiya, a more forceful and high-pressure approach was necessary. Those guys were the type who only responded to tough love—no, that's an insult to masochists. My apologies. In any case, there was no need to be polite with them. With this in mind, Fanseti's gentle and courteous attitude toward the Grand Sage of the Akademiya, coupled with the Grand Sage's ungrateful behavior, had already made Ye impatient. So, Ye took over. "Miss Fanseti, regarding your request to copy all the books in our Akademiya, this is simply against our rules. Please don't bring it up again. I cannot agree." As soon as Ye—Fanseti—logged in, she saw the Grand Sage of the Akademiya and heard his firm voice. "Knowledge is Sumeru's greatest treasure. How could we hand it all over to another nation?" Looking at the Grand Sage, Fanseti's smile grew even gentler. "If that's the case, then please repay the Mora Sumeru owes to Fontaine." "As I've said, we currently don't have the funds. Please inform your Supreme Bishop and ask him to grant us some more time." "You really don't know when to quit, do you?" "Huh?" Fanseti's gentle smile as she spoke these harsh words left the Grand Sage momentarily confused, almost wondering if he had misheard. After all, Fanseti had never spoken so bluntly before, and her face still wore a very gentle smile. "Three hundred and fifty years ago, Sumeru faced a nationwide economic crisis. It was our Supreme Bishop's kindness that lent you 500 billion Mora and a large amount of resources to help Sumeru survive." Fanseti spoke slowly: "At the time, Fontaine and Sumeru signed a contract. The resources were charitable aid and did not need to be repaid. However, from then on, Sumeru was required to repay Fontaine 10 billion Mora annually, along with ten unique research as interest." "Yet Sumeru has failed to fulfill this contract for three hundred years. Are you planning to default on this debt entirely?" "Grand Sage, you must understand that this contract is black and white, undeniable. If the Geo Archon were still alive, I could take this contract to Liyue and ask him to impose the 'Stone Devouring Punishment' on you." "Or are you under the impression that since the Geo Archon is gone, there's no god to enforce the contract?" "While our Hydro Archon is not the God of Contracts, she is the God of Justice. Violating the spirit of a contract is a violation of justice, and this is something Lady Furina can certainly address." "Of course, such a trivial matter doesn't require Lady Furina's attention. If you truly intend to break the contract... then I will impose the 'Flame Devouring Punishment' on you myself." Fanseti spoke all of this in a gentle tone, while the Grand Sage's face grew darker. You people are truly shameless. You speak as if you're completely in the right, but everyone in Teyvat knows that the economic crisis in Sumeru back then was caused by your Supreme Bishop! And that's not all. The Akademiya at the time swallowed this bitter pill, accepting Fontaine's 500 billion Mora loan and a large amount of resources, signing that contract. The Akademiya thought Fontaine was just after their knowledge—ten research per year? Fine, Sumeru had plenty of knowledge to spare. But who could have imagined that fifty years later, after Sumeru had barely managed to repay the debt, Fontaine would come demanding more in the fifty-first year! And it was the Supreme Bishop of Fontaine himself who came to collect! "According to the contract, the Akademiya must repay Fontaine 10 billion Mora and ten research annually. Why haven't I seen this year's payment?" "Paid off? Where? Does the contract specify how much Mora Sumeru must repay? Does it say how many years you must repay before it's considered settled?" "The contract clearly states that Sumeru must repay 10 billion Mora and ten research every year, doesn't it?" "Repaying debts is only natural." "Either repay the money, or I will destroy the Akademiya." Such unreasonable statements—who would think Fontaine was in the right? If this were any other nation, would Fontaine dare to make such demands? The Grand Sage at the time was so furious he vomited blood and fainted. When he woke up, he nearly decided to release Lesser Lord Kusanali and take the Supreme Bishop of Fontaine down with him. —In the end, he held back. If Lesser Lord Kusanali were released, it was unclear whether the Supreme Bishop of Fontaine would die—after all, rumors said he had god-like strength—but the Grand Sage himself would definitely be doomed! Over the past five hundred years in Sumeru, not every Sage and Grand Sage had been arrogant fools. Not everyone wanted to imprison their god. But what could they do? The Akademiya was in too deep! You've already done it—can you guarantee that releasing Lesser Lord Kusanali won't lead to your own downfall? Who wouldn't be afraid of that?! The sins of the predecessors were visited upon the successors—this was the fate of the Akademiya's Sages and Grand Sages. They were by no means innocent, but it must be said that most of them cursed the generation that had imprisoned Lesser Lord Kusanali. But what could they do? What could they do? What could they possibly do?! The more one revered the gods, the more one feared their wrath. If you didn't want to face divine retribution, you had no choice but to stay on this dark path. At least things were stable this way, weren't they? The past years had gone by like this, hadn't they? Having a god or not didn't seem to make much difference, did it? Look at Mondstadt—they were doing fine, weren't they? —And then Sumeru finally began to experience the same suffering Mondstadt endured due to the absence of their god, as they were bullied by Snezhnaya. Of course, Mondstadt wasn't doing too badly, since Barbatos wasn't dead—he just didn't show himself. Moreover, the Knights of Favonius weren't pushovers, so Snezhnaya only pressured Mondstadt diplomatically within certain limits, not daring to go too far. But Sumeru was different. Ye knew exactly what was going on in Sumeru, so he had no qualms about squeezing them dry. Of course, Ye wasn't entirely heartless. On the contrary, he was a kind and benevolent person. So he was still lenient with Sumeru. "Fine, I don't want to see the people of Sumeru continue to suffer. From now on, Sumeru will only need to repay 1 billion Mora annually. The rest can remain as a perpetual debt." It was under the Supreme Bishop's generous and merciful decision that Sumeru finally breathed a sigh of relief. The economy gradually recovered, and the people's lives improved. All of this was thanks to the Supreme Bishop's kindness! "But you can't keep taking advantage of the Supreme Bishop's mercy by refusing to repay your debts, can you?" Fanseti said gently: "The Supreme Bishop has grown utterly tired of your deadbeat behavior, which is why I'm here to collect." "Three hundred years, 9 billion Mora annually—a total of 2.7 trillion Mora." "Repay the money, or hand over the books. Your choice."